Since the launch of the first commercial satellites in the 1960s, the satellite
industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar enterprise delivering a broad
range of essential services to people around the globe.

Satellites are used to gather meteorological information, to provide
instantaneous coverage of breaking news and sporting events – from the Beijing
Olympics last summer to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow last month – and
to deliver direct-to-home entertainment services such as pay-TV and digital
radio.

More crucially, perhaps, satellites also provide the critical navigation and
tracking services used by aircraft, the maritime industry, and long-distance
high-speed rail and road transport fleets. Scientific research satellites
provide land survey and remote sensing data, HAM radio, radio astronomy and a
range of earth science, marine science, and atmospheric research applications.

And new satellite-based early warning systems now being put in place will help
communities around the world minimize the impact of a growing spate of natural
disasters resulting from our planet’s rapidly changing climate.

As you might expect, all this activity taking place 36,000 kilometres above our
heads, for the so-called GSO satellite networks, requires precise global
planning and monitoring. Satellites cannot easily share exactly the same orbital
position, nor can they receive and transmit their images, data or voice signals
on exactly the same frequency as another neighbouring system, without intensive
cooperation and discussion, to avoid the risk of interference.

Ladies and gentlemen,

ITU is the sole global agency charged with managing the world’s shared radio
spectrum and orbital resources.

In line with our mandate to connect the world’s people through equitable and
affordable access to information and communication technologies, we are charged
with maintaining the Master International Frequency Register, with coordination
of planned new satellite networks, and with ensuring systems operate according
to the provisions of the Radio Regulations, the ITU-brokered binding
international treaty governing the use of radiocommunication systems worldwide.

ITU’s work covers all types of civil and governmental satellite systems in all
services – with the most popular being the Fixed Satellite Service, the
Mobile Satellite Service and the Broadcasting Satellite Service. These systems –
of which there are some 250 in current operation – deliver services for both
commercial interests and governments.

Our work focuses on ensuring the essential services delivered over satellite
systems can function as they should, without risk of what we call ‘harmful
interference’. In the radiocommunication world, this term refers to interference
between two operating radio frequencies that seriously degrades, obstructs or
repeatedly interrupts either or both services.

Harmful interference is a potential problem for any kind of radiocommunication
service. But for satellite systems, it is particularly problematic for a number
of reasons – beyond the the laws of physics and the fact that radio waves do not
stop at national borders.

One very important reason is that some satellite-borne services – such as air
navigation for aircraft – have a crucial safety element that means interference
is a very serious matter indeed.

Another is the sheer cost of manufacturing, launching and operating a satellite
for 12 to 15 years – which runs into hundreds of millions of dollars a time.

A third is increasing overcrowding in space – particularly around ‘prime’
geostationary orbital slots – which is making it hard to ensure that new systems
do not interfere with existing services.

Thirty years ago, when the satellite industry was relatively young, six degrees
of spatial separation between geostationary satellites was considered crowded.
Today, with demand for services driving the deployment of more and more space
systems, ITU is dealing with spatial separation of as little as 0.5 degrees in
the so called ‘high quality’ slots that position satellites to reach the largest
number of potential users.

And space technology moves very fast. While we originally dealt with demands in
the geostationary orbit at 6/4 gigahertz, we now get demands up around 100
gigahertz.

ITU’s coordination role for new satellite deployments involves complex technical
calculations and liaison with national administrations whose satellite systems
and terrestrial stations may be impacted by transmissions from a new satellite.
We map any planned system against the precise operating characteristics of all
relevant systems and stations already included in the Master International
Frequency Register – to ensure that the new system will be able to operate free
of interference from satellites already in orbit, and will not itself cause
interference to existing services.

ITU coordination can be particularly crucial for systems deployed by countries
in the developing world, where technical glitches can have a huge impact –
either because of the difficulties in financing satellites in the first place,
or because the total number of satellites serving developing regions is already
lower than for developed parts of the world.

ITU satellite coordination is mandatory for ITU Member States – and with
hundreds of millions of dollars at stake for operating a satellite, very few
satellite operators are prepared to take the risk of going it alone. Inclusion
in ITU’s Master International Frequency Register confers the international
rights and obligations of administrations, and in particular the international
recognition and protection of their satellite system.

Lack of this protection can be catastrophic – as in the example of Protostar 1,
which was launched in the eastern part of the orbit without ITU coordination.
Subsequent interference with an existing Chinese satellite resulted in
Protostar’s beams being shut down – yet this brand new satellite could have been
delivering services, and generating revenues for its operator, for at least 15
years.

Whenever a case like this occurs, ITU works with all parties involved to try to
find a mutually acceptable solution. But this still results in lengthy and
costly delays in bringing a new satellite into service which could have easily
been avoided by following standard ITU coordination procedures.

Distinguished colleagues,

In the realm of satellite services, I’m happy to say that malign, intentional
interference is a rare thing. ITU did note one recent instance of a country
attempting to block a satellite TV broadcast it did not approve of. But this is
essentially a political issue, not a technical one, and can only therefore be
resolved with a political solution.

Even in cases of unintentional interference between two neighbouring countries
with a strained political relationship, common sense normally wins through.
Countries work together to resolve the issue quickly, not necessarily because of
goodwill, but simply because it is in their mutual interest to find a solution.

Determining the technical principles and international guidelines that ensure
interference-free operation of all radiocommunication services – the norms – is
another of ITU’s very important tasks. This work is carried out in the six
specialized Study Groups of ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector.

Because of this
work, negotiations between different satellite operators is made a great deal
easier, as they can each refer to us as an independent, impartial third party.

We are unique among UN-specialized agencies in having a mix of public and
private sector members. That means that in addition to our 191 Member States we
also have over 700 members comprising the world’s leading ICT operators,
equipment manufacturers, software developers, service providers, R&D
organizations and local, regional and international ICT bodies.

ITU Study Groups comprise technical experts drawn from this diverse membership,
who work together to define the frameworks that will ensure optimum functioning
of all services, both new and old. Many of these experts represent competing
commercial interests – yet within the walls of ITU they put their rivalry to one
side and work cooperatively to develop systems, best practice principles and
guidelines that will serve the best interests of the industry as a whole.

I believe this is the great strength of ITU. For over 140 years, we have worked
alongside the industry we serve, building global consensus, reconciling
competing interests, and forging the new technical standards that have served as
the platform for the development of what is now the world’s most dynamic
business sector.

Through all this ITU, like UNIDIR, strives to foster peaceful cooperation among
nations through the equitable sharing of global resources, for the betterment of
humanity as a whole.